From Good to Great: The Impact of Coaching
Great coaches are gold.
My son plays hockey, and last year, my son started working with a new goaltending coach. He had quite a long NHL career and clearly knew his stuff.
Now, I know that knowing things is one thing, but being able to teach them is a whole other ball (er, hockey) game. My son has been playing since he was six, with only half a season playing out as a skater, and then he declared he wanted to try being a goalie. Reluctantly, we agreed.
He was small when starting out. So tiny in fact that he could skate clear under the crossbar.
Over the years, he’s had at least a dozen coaches. And so far, he's played on nine teams in three states, including three different high school teams.
In session one with this new-to-us coach, we were optimistic because he came recommended through someone we trust. The coach noticed right away that my son had been holding his stick wrong. There was just one finger out of place, and this coach spotted it. He’s been playing with his hand in the wrong position for nine years, and out of all those coaches (and goalie coaches), no one noticed.
He continued with a couple of sessions a week with his new coach. He'd usually come home pretty worn out—physically and mentally. My son was about to put his new skills to work while playing his first game with his new varsity high school team as a tenth grader.
Right away, we noticed something different. He moved differently. Efficient. He looked more confident and smoother. Now he’s always been fairly confident (he's a Leo ♌️) and has a particular style in his movements, but this was distinct.
After the game (the team won), he said that his play felt easier than it ever had before. He played well before, but he clearly reached a new level.
This skilled coach got him moving more efficiently in just a couple of sessions. My husband texted a message of thanks to the coach, sharing how profound the transformation had been in such a short time.
We smiled and chortled at the coach's humble reply, "Give all the credit to him. He puts in the work."
It was funny to me. Here's this coach who changed everything in mere hours, taking an athlete from good to great with a few tweaks and then lots of repetition.
This experience reminded me how critical great coaches are to our journey.
If you've had one coach for years, are you still getting results and growing?
Or could a coach catch a habit you're doing unconsciously and change your game?
—> As an intuitive writing coach, the most common tweak I suggest with my clients is not what they write, but how they write.
Many times, they're trying to edit as they write. This slows us down. It's more efficient, just like holding the stick (or pen, even) can completely transform your writing game. A better game means more confidence. The results keep snowballing. And before long, you're getting better every day in every way.
You're writing better and faster every day.
If you’re still getting results and upleveling with your coach, that’s amazing — stick with them. If you’re not getting results, it may be time to switch, and you might need different coaches for different phases of your journey.
As a 20+ year communications professional with 3 self-published books and more on the way, I know what it takes to not just write, but teach you how.
As an intuitive writing coach, I can help you with:
Your website copywriting
Your nonfiction book or memoir
Your blogging and content creation, including LinkedIn and social media presence
